Ali on PL2 defeat to Forest

Mehmet Ali felt our under-21s could have no complaints over the outcome of Monday night’s Premier League 2 game against Nottingham Forest, as the performance wasn’t good enough to deserve a positive result in the 2-0 defeat.

The hosts took the lead at Meadow Lane early in the second half when Jamie McDonnell’s cross was tapped in at the far post by Alex Mighton.

Esapa Osong made it 2-0 in the fourth minute of stoppage time at the end of the second half when he dispossessed Reuell Walters and lifted the ball over Ovie Ejeheri.

Speaking post-match, Ali said: “On the performance, I’ve got to give credit to Nottingham Forest. I thought their game plan was very good. They made us jump and press them and then they were good at playing into the front two and it caused us problems in the first half. They had a few chances from it. 

“Ovie pulled off some good saves and then on the ball in the first half I thought we were good. We got into good areas, had some half chances and shots where their goalkeeper made some good saves. I thought it was an even game in the first half. 

“We made a few changes which I felt helped us, but we got sucker punched and gave the ball away very cheaply and against a good side who transitioned well. When they were 1-0 up, they were very hard to break down. They were a deep block and were organised. We’ve got to be better when we play against teams like that at not giving away cheap goals and being able to break them down.

“It was frustrating because we want to be front foot and get the ball back and when we press and go aggressive, we did make them go longer so we have to be able to be better with our midfielders back tackling and our backline winning first contacts, getting the correct side and winning their duels. We didn’t do that well enough tonight.

“Forest were very good at disrupting our rhythm and at times wind the game down. We needed to remain calm and play with intensity and quickly to try to move their block and find different ways of breaking them down, whether that’s with shots from in front, clever combinations or crosses into the box. We had some good moments where we did it, we just lacked the finish or final cutting edge and we deserved to lose tonight. We’ve got to go again.”

Sunday represents the next opportunity to go again as we’re back at Meadow Park to host Reading in Premier League 2 for a 12pm kick-off.

“It’s an exciting fixture,” Ali said. “Reading are going well. They’ve not conceded a goal yet and they’ll be resilient like Forest, hard to break down, so it’s a great opportunity to bounce back and win the game.”